Skip to main content

Oregon Route 36

 


Twisting its way far through the Coast Ranges and along the Siuslaw River (among other bodies of water) between Mapleton and Junction City, Oregon is Oregon Route 36, also known as the Mapleton-Junction City Highway. For much of its length of 51.58 miles, OR 36 is a quiet, winding road, weaving its way through logging country, farmland, and small communities across Lane County, Oregon. The highway passes through places on its way between OR 126 and OR 99, such as Swisshome, Deadwood, and Triangle Lake before reaching the Willamette Valley. OR 36 also comprised part of the routing for former US 28 west of Eugene. Before modern-day OR 126 was built west of Eugene, what is now OR 36 between Brickerville and Junction City was part of the way to travel between Eugene and the Oregon Coast. 

I found OR 36 to be a quiet, enjoyable drive going through an often overlooked area of the Coast Ranges. I also found a few surprises along the way which were interesting and helped tell the story of the life and the times along the highway. I took the highway going east from Mapleton to Junction City.

OR 36 begins in Mapleton, named for its bigleaf maple trees.

Early on, you'll find that OR 36 goes through some pretty countryside.

OR 36 can be a pretty narrow road, as it is sandwiched between the hills of the Coast Ranges, the Siuslaw River and a railroad (I believe the rail line is part of the Southern Pacific Railroad).

I took my drive in March, but I'm guessing that when leaves are on the trees, it provides a fun canopy to drive under.

OR 36 is hugging the real estate between the Siuslaw River and the railroad again.

A beehive burner found just west of Swisshome. A wood waste burner, known as a teepee burner or wigwam burner in the United States and a beehive burner in Canada. Wood waste burners went out of general use in the Pacific Northwest in the early 1970s, and are prohibited from operation in Oregon. Wood waste used to dispose of waste wood in logging yards and sawdust from sawmills by incineration, but due to creating poor air quality, their use has fallen out of fashion. You can still find intact wood waste burners here and there.

Entering Swisshome.

Railroad bridge over the Siuslaw River.

Continuing east, we have a sign showing distances to Triangle Lake and Junction City. Triangle Lake is roughly the halfway point of OR 36.

Continuing east, OR 36 remains a quiet country drive.

Siuslaw River on the right.

Crossing the Indian Creek at Indiola.

At times, OR 36 felt narrower than some country roads. This was one of those times.

Entering Deadwood. On the other side of Deadwood is Deadwood Creek Road, which you can take to the Deadwood Covered Bridge a few miles away.

Crossing the Siuslaw River. In Deadwood, the Siuslaw River veers away from OR 36, and the road starts following Lake Creek instead.

I just liked this photo along with the mix of deciduous and evergreen trees in the background.

As we get past Deadwood, we encounter some pastures for a change.

The Nelson Mountain Covered Bridge (or Lake Creek Covered Bridge) is just off of OR 36 on Nelson Mountain Road near Deadwood. The 105 foot long covered bridge was built in 1928 at a cost of $3,155.

The pastures are a bit of a contrast to the riverside drive that OR 36 followed west of Deadwood.

Crossing Greenleaf Creek. The community of Greenleaf is actually west of Greenleaf Creek.

Now we get into the twisting curves again.

A nice rock wall to our left as well.

That might be Triangle Lake in the distance.

Turn right to go to Triangle Lake Park, which is a Lane County park with a small beach on the lake.

Driving along Triangle Lake.

The Sumich Round Barn along OR 36 in Blachly, Oregon. While the round barn is in disrepair now, this particular barn has an unique design for barns in the state of Oregon, and was built between 1946 and 1949.

Continuing east on OR 36 through the Lake Creek Valley.

But we are starting to climb through the eastern stretches of the Coast Ranges and towards the Willamette Valley.

OR 36 tops off at just under 1,100 feet in elevation.

Descending towards Low Pass and the Long Tom River.

Back to pastures mixed in with trees.

The road to Noti will take you to OR 126.

The curiously named Poodle Creek Road is to your right.

OR 36 really starts to straighten out east from here.

As OR 36 descends into the Willamette Valley, we have reached the communities of Goldson and Cheshire.

The Territorial Highway is actually a long north-south road, going from OR 99W in Monroe south to Curtin, near the intersection of I-5 and OR 38.

But closer by locations along the Territorial Highway are Elmira and Veneta, both around where the road meets OR 126.

OR 36 may be the way to go if you're headed towards parts of Eugene. Upon looking at a map, OR 36 to OR 99 is a fairly direct way to get to Eugene from places like Cheshire and Junction City.

Speaking of Cheshire, Oregon.

Once we pass Cheshire, we get back into the farm country of the Willamette Valley.

The foothills of the Cascades are off to the distance, on the other side of I-5.

Approaching OR 99 and the end of our journey along OR 36.

At OR 99, you have options at OR 36's eastern end. You can go north to Junction City and then continue on OR 99E or OR 99W, or venture south to Eugene, which is one of Oregon's largest cities.



How to Get There:



Sources and Links:
Motorcycle Roads Northwest - Oregon State Route 36 “Mapleton-Junction City Highway”
US Ends.com - End of US Highway 28
ORoads - US Route 28
Oregon Department of Transportation - 2020 Oregon Mileage Report (PDF)
Ride With GPS - Eugene-Florence One Way

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Pollasky Bridge

The Pollasky Bridge near modern day Friant is a ruined highway bridge which was completed during early 1906 as part of the Fresno-Fresno Flats Road.  The structure is one of the oldest known arch concrete spans to have been constructed in California.  The bridge briefly carried California State Route 41 following the destruction of the Lanes Bridge in 1940.  The Pollasky Bridge itself was destroyed by flooding during 1951, but the ruins can still be found on the Madera County side of the San Joaquin River.   Pictured as the blog cover is the Pollasky Bridge as it was featured in the 1913 book "The Concrete Bridge."  The structure can be seen crossing the San Joaquin River near Friant below on the 1922 United States Geological Survey Map.   Part 1; the history of the Pollasky Bridge The Pollasky Bridge site is near modern day Friant of Fresno County.  The community of Friant was established as Converse Ferry during 1852 on the San Joaquin Rive...

Trimmer Springs Road (Fresno County)

Trimmer Springs Road is an approximately forty-mile rural highway located in Fresno County.  The corridor begins near in California State Route 180 in Centerville and extends to Blackrock Road at the Kings River in the Sierra Nevada range near the Pacific Gas & Electric Company town of Balch Camp. The roadway is named after the former Trimmer Springs Resort and was originally constructed to facilitate access to the Sanger Log Flume.  Trimmer Springs Road was heavily modified and elongated after construction of Pine Flat Dam broke ground in 1947.   Part 1; the history of Trimmer Springs Road Much of the original alignment of Trimmer Springs Road was constructed to facilitate access to the Sanger Log Flume.   The  Kings River Lumber Company  had been established in 1888 in the form of a 30,000-acre purchase of forest lands in Converse Basin.  This purchase lied immediately west of Grant Grove and came to be known as "Millwood."  The co...

When was Ventura Avenue east of downtown Fresno renamed to Kings Canyon Road? (California State Route 180)

California State Route 180 was one of the original Sign State Routes designated in August 1934.  The highway east of Fresno originally utilized what was Ventura Avenue and Dunlap Road to reach what was then General Grant National Park.  By late year 1939 the highway was extended through the Kings River Canyon to Cedar Grove.   In 1940 General Grant National Park would be expanded and rebranded as Kings Canyon National Park.  The Kings Canyon Road designation first appeared in publications circa 1941 when the California State Route 180 bypass of Dunlap was completed.  Kings Canyon Road ultimately would replace the designation of Dunlap Road from Dunlap to Centerville and Ventura Avenue west to 1st Street in Fresno.   The Kings Canyon Road would remain largely intact until March 2023 when the Fresno Council designated Cesar Chavez Boulevard.  Cesar Chavez Boulevard was designated over a ten-mile corridor over what was Kings Canyon Road, remaini...